


Friends With You

by knifecuties



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Action & Romance, Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Darkswap, Alternate Universe - Role Reversal, Darkswap, Fluff, For Gays By Gays, Frenemies, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Mutual Pining, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Other characters mentioned - Freeform, Pining, Rivals to Lovers, Role Reversal, Romantic Comedy, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, frenemies to lovers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-24
Updated: 2020-08-24
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:08:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25552567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/knifecuties/pseuds/knifecuties
Summary: “What can I do, but leave you alone?Here's to you and meAnd the crumbling infrastructure no one else can seeThe end result of my own reckless impulsivityCould you spare a sec to talk to me?”• • • •Shadow goes on an adventure with his friends, finds some powerful emeralds, and maybe falls in love with his rival while trying to save the world from an “evil” child prodigy that loves to cause mischief.(Darkswap AUCurrent Status: On Going)
Relationships: E-123 Omega & Rouge the Bat & Shadow the Hedgehog, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Rouge the Bat & Shadow the Hedgehog, Rouge the Bat & Shadow the Hedgehog & Sonic the Hedgehog, Shadow the Hedgehog/Sonic the Hedgehog
Comments: 10
Kudos: 28





	Friends With You

**Author's Note:**

> This is a fanfic for darkswap on tumblr, a role swap au with Shadow and Rouge being the main focus. Their tumblr explains the character's roles and such so it’s recommended that you check them out to get an understanding of how the au works.
> 
> Originally, this was supposed to be uploaded around March 2020 or so but it’s being uploaded on July 2020.
> 
> Enjoy and feel free to leave criticism. Thank you!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> • • • •
> 
> Shadow just wanted the chaos emerald to add to his collection and leave. Nothing more, nothing less. He thought it would be a quick trip with no incidents and no evil brats trying to take over the world. Turns out that day was going to only get more complicated.

Shadow just wanted the chaos emerald to add to his collection and leave. Nothing more, nothing less. He thought it would be a quick trip with no incidents and no evil brats trying to take over the world. Turns out that day was going to only get more complicated.

“All this dust and grime is going to ruin my suit!” He complained. He didn’t expect it to be squeaky clean, but at some point, you’d think a child genius would take some time out of her day to tidy up once in a while.

“Then maybe you shouldn’t have worn it.” Rouge suggested. Shadow gasped at the suggestion that he shouldn't have worn one of his suits. He was almost offended.

“I take my fashion seriously, Rouge. There’s no way in hell I wouldn’t wear one of my suits! I’m appalled that you would even say such a thing!”  
“Yeah, yeah,” She sarcastically replied, then suddenly stopped in her tracks. “It’s close…”  
“Well then, what are we waiting for?” The other asked presumptuously. 

She rolled her eyes at him, and with one swift motion, she kicked down the walls, entering through it. As the dust cleared, they saw two figures that were all too familiar.

“Rouge! Shadow! I should have known it was you. You have the chaos emerald, don’t you?!” The yellow fox exclaimed. The young hero looked confident and so sure of himself. Rouge already seemed annoyed with the young hero’s accusations.

“Give up the emerald,”  
“I don’t have the damn chaos emerald,” she said, disgruntled.

As the two continued to argue, Shadow looked behind Tails and saw Sonic holding something in his hands. The speedy inventor must have created something to detect the chaos emeralds if he was making any assumptions. Sonic seemed kind of annoyed by the whole situation, looking displeased with how much time it was taking. 

“Well, if you don’t have the emerald, what are you doing here, huh?”  
“Looking for the emerald, idiot,” 

They continued arguing for a bit, with Shadow tuning them out again, not paying much attention to what they were saying. He’d heard all the insults they’ve said and done before, he couldn't care less. 

He heard a yelp, his attention now drawn to the machine Sonic had in hand, now on the floor with the other hedgehog missing now. There was no way he would drop something so valuable and so suddenly. He looked at the other two to see if they had noticed yet. Rouge and Tails were too busy yelling at each other’s faces that they hadn’t. He picked it up and then felt something grab him. It was so sudden he barely had time to react. Next thing he knew, it tied him up.

"Hey, Shadow. Not so pleasant surprise to see you here,"   
Shadow then groaned, recognizing who it was. It had to be him.  
"Hello, Sonic, " he said unenthusiastically.   
“And a hello to you too, boys!” The child genius grinned.  
“What is it now, Maria?”  
“Just make yourselves look pretty for the camera, won’t you?”

➽──────❥

"How should I believe you?!" Tails continued to argue.  
"God damn it, Tails! I don't know where the fucking chaos emerald is!"  
"Oh, really? Or is that just what you want me to believe? Well-"  
“Shush!!”  
“Don't shush me-”  
“SHUSH,” She said louder, her ears twitched as she heard something. “They're not here...”  
"Who's not here?"  
"Sonic and Shadow!"  
“Huh?” He looked behind him and realized Sonic wasn’t where Tails last saw him.  
“He was right behind me! How did he-”

“HOHOHOHOHO!!! Bet you didn’t expect this!” A childish voice came booming as a big-screen slowly turned on, showing the malicious child, smiling at the screen.

“Maria!!” They both said in unison.  
“Hello, Tails! You came right on schedule. But it also seems like I’ve got your friends all tied up! Isn’t that a shame!” She laughed mockingly, as she moved to the side to reveal the two hedgehogs tied up, dangling upside down on the ceiling, back to back. Then, the camera focused on the emerald on a pillar near the pit. “AND I have the Chaos Emerald! Some hero you are!”

“What are you planning with that emerald, huh?”  
“Wouldn’t you like to know, little yellow rodent! You’ll just have to wait and see when I TAKE OVER THE-”  
“God, It’s so boring here!” The blue hedgehog complained. “Can we just skip this whole evil monologue and just get to the part where we beat you already?”  
“W-” was all she could say before he interrupted again. 

“-And these ropes are itchy, plus they’re making my wrists hurt. It’s enough torture being tied up to this guy,”  
“I’m not having any fun either, faker,” Shadow taunted.  
“Faker?! I look nothing like you!” Sonic pushed him, swinging them side to side.  
“Don’t push me, asshole!” He pushed back, swinging them side to side again, ever so lightly breaking a bit of the rope.  
“Hey, quit it! You’ll send us falling, idiot,”  
“You started it,”  
“You're the overdramatic one,”  
“You’re a know-it-all ass,”  
“Egotistical!”  
“DUMBASS MORON!”  
“SELF-ABSORBED JERK!”  
“Guys, seriously?” Rouge interrupted.  
“This doesn’t involve you!” The pair said in unison.

“Oh God, their constant whining and bickering! It’s giving me a headache!” She rubbed her head in annoyance. “Which is why I’m just going to give them a quick lava bath. That’ll shut them up,” she said as their bickering continued. She pulled out a button, and as soon as she pressed it, the floor underneath revealed itself as the rope descended into the lava. They both stopped bickering for a moment and immediately started yelling in fear. 

“We’ll get you guys! Don’t worry!” Tails assured them.  
“I’M KINDA WORRYING TAILS!!!” Sonic yelled in panic.  
“And you won’t be going anywhere until you defeat my robot army!!! OHOHOHOHO!! ROBOTS!! ATTACK THE INTRUDERS!!”

Two sets of robot soldiers came crashing through the walls. Maria laughed as she turned off the screen and took the chaos emerald from the pedestal it was on.

“Well, now that that’s handled, I’ll be taking this chaos emerald,”  
“You won’t get away with this, you brat!” Shadow yelled.  
“Don’t you see? I already have,” she said menacingly. She boarded her giant mech on a platform from below and raised her. She took one more menacing glance at them before waving goodbye and giving them a mocking “Toodles!” as the platform raised her through the hole in the ceiling. 

“.... God, this is so unoriginal. Getting lowered into a pit of lava? So overdone!” Shadow said after a while.  
“Yeah. And tying us up like this? Total bore. You’d think a child prodigy would be more original with her evil schemes. The performance, it wasn’t too bad, but I stopped screaming when I realized how slow this was,” Sonic added.  
“Exactly! Plus, her schemes rarely work. You realize that after the tenth time this has happened,”  
“I’m gonna get us out of here. Tails and Rouge might take a while,”  
“And how are you going to do that, smartass?” he mocked. But by the time Shadow could blink, Sonic was already on the ground.

“How did you- nevermind. Just get me out of here,”  
“Yeah, yeah. I’ll find the button to stop it, then we’ll see what she’s got planned for that chaos emerald,” He observed the big computer with multiple buttons on them and pressed one.

“Uh, Sonic? I’m getting kinda close to the lava! And faster!” Shadow panicked.  
“Alright! Just give me a second!” He pressed another button. A small pair of scissors emerged from the ceiling next to the rope, starting to cut into it.  
“SONIC!!”  
“Why is that a button!?” He began panicking, looking for anything to stop the machine. As he looked around for anything to buy him time, the rope finally broke. Shadow braced himself for the inevitable until he realized it didn't even hurt. Yeah, it was warm and icky, but it wasn't actual lava. 

Sonic walked up to the pit and tested it. It stuck to his glove, so he tasted it.  
“It tastes like orange jello. It's harmless,” He shrugged.  
“She couldn’t even pick a good flavour,”  
“Hm. That was anticlimactic,”  
“I agree, but can you please just pull me out of here?” The other pleaded. Sonic tried to pull him out, but the jello was too dense. He pulled with all his strength, having Shadow practically fling to him, knocking them both down.

“Ugh... My head...” Shadow groaned. The other stood up and tried to keep his balance.

“Shit. Sorry about that,” Sonic apologized, offering his hand to help Shadow get up. Shadow looked at his hand for a second, but got up by himself and continued walking towards the gigantic screen. “Whatever. Let's just sort this out,” He said, Sonic following him. 

“Alright, let’s see what Maria’s plan is,” Sonic said, typing into the computer. “Looks like she’s attempting to attract the energies of the other chaos emeralds. The energy of the single chaos emerald could tell her where all of them are, and then she would be unstoppable! It also looks like she’s been developing a new mech soldier. I better save this,” he said as he pulled out a small computer drive.

Shadow just stood next to him, just barely understanding what he said. He observed the screen some more, but then felt a sudden feeling looming over them. From the reflection of the bright screen, he saw a giant robot preparing to crush them into smithereens with their fists. He quickly pushed Sonic, avoiding the robot in time and destroying the control pad, including Sonic’s drive.

He pushed Sonic into the ground as he yelped at the sudden movement. Shadow looked at him for a moment, but then rolled over to avoid another attack from the robot. They split, and Sonic sped to the other side of the pit to get its attention.

“Hey, big guy! Over here!”

Just as the robot turned around, Shadow ran into it and shoved it into the “lava” pit, watching the metal robot get stuck and shut down. 

“How did she know you untied us? Is there a camera or something here?” Shadow said, looking around the room.  
“No wonder I feel like I'm being watched...” Sonic shivered slightly. He looked for his drive, or what remained of it at least, and found it crushed to smithereens. Shadow felt a little bad about it, which was a feeling he wasn't used to.

“Sorry about your drive,”  
“Nah, it’s fine! I always have my info backed up. I just hope I got most of the blueprints,” Shadow mentally sighed in relief. Feeling guilty was one of the worst feelings in the world.  
“How are we going to get up to the roof? Surely, her elevators are too slow to catch her in time,”

“Hm…” Sonic looked around the room and saw the giant pole supporting the platform and the hole in the ceiling. He observed the pole and realized it was slowly lifting the platform Maria was on, taking her sweet time to arrive at the top, which was the perfect opportunity. “Booyah!” he exclaimed.  
“Did you say Booyah-”  
“We can catch up to her by climbing the pole! We’ll be able to catch up to her in no time since she looks like she's taking her sweet time,” he explained.

As they climbed the pole, they came across the platform she was on. It blocked their way, preventing them from doing anything.

“How are we going to get through this? My drill would make too much noise,”  
“Here, take this. It should burn through the metal,” Shadow handed him what looked to be a toy laser pointer. He tested it out for a second, fascinated to find out it was an actual laser.  
“Woah! This’ll cut right through it!”  
“Just a small gift GUN gave me,”

Sonic rolled his eyes and started cutting a circle into the metal platform. As Sonic peaked through the hole, he could see Maria sitting in her mech and watching the tv, eating chips without a care in the world. As he lifted Shadow, he vaguely heard what she was saying.

“Man, I could never get sick of this show,” Sonic looked over to what she was referring to and saw a bunch of Sailor Moon and other anime tapes. She then laughed at something on the screen. He saw her squint at the screen then turn around suddenly, chips in hand. 

“Uh……. HYPERSPEED JETS GO!” The platform went up faster, and the lights flashing a bright red as she pressed the button, practically blinding them. Her mech rose, and metal arms emerged to attack them.   
Sonic pushed Shadow to the side as the mech grabbed him and slammed him into the ground. Shadow pulled off one of the robotic arms and twisted it, making it unable to move much. Four more mechanical arms emerged from the robot. Two of them were holding the platform, shaking it back and forth. Both of them swiftly avoided every attack she threw at them. Sonic twisted another arm and pushed it, slightly knocking Maria around.  
Shadow lured two other ones, zig-zagging around so they would get tied up with each other. Sonic pulled out his wrench to whack her mech, causing the two other arms to collapse. They arrived on the roof, and the chaos emerald slipped out of Maria’s hands. She tried to reach for it again, soon to be stopped by Shadow, picking up the shiny emerald and admiring it. 

“Ugh… You may win this time, you rodents, but soon, you will rue the day you messed me! You’ll rue it!!,” She pushed a button to escape her away from the scene. Most likely so the police wouldn’t arrest her for damages and attempting to rule the world. 

“Who says rue?” Shadow laughed.  
“Probably a brat who’s ego entirely relies on being smart,” Sonic said, earning him a small chuckle from Shadow.  
“My, my. Well, that was fun. I didn’t know you had it in you, Blue,”  
“I could say the same for you, Froufrou,” Sonic replied. Shadow punched him on the shoulder, not really defensively but more friendly. It was an odd feeling, but it was a positive weird. It felt like they're friends. Not just rivals, but friends who could have a pleasant laugh together.

“Now, what are we going to do with this emerald?”  
“Well, you could keep it for your hoard of jewels. Or I could use it for my research and give it to Amy, where it’ll be safe and sound,” Sonic suggested, leaning on the defeated and abandoned mech. Shadow thought about it for a moment, then threw it to Sonic.

“You keep it. I’m sure it'd be way more useful to you,”  
“Huh. Didn’t expect that. Now, what’s the catch?”  
“No catch. Consider it a favour for breaking your drive,”  
“You never cannot surprise me, Shads” He smiled, and Shadow smiled back. Shadow felt his stomach flip for a second, his face turning pink as they looked at the sun setting nearby.

They looked at the sky, spotting their two friends flying over to them. Tails immediately high-fived Sonic for another ass-kicking well done.

"Let's go to Knux's to celebrate!" Tails exclaimed  
“We always go to Knux's to celebrate,”  
“His baking is so good though,”

He chuckled at Tail's excitement and then looked toward Rouge and Shadow. “Hey, you guys wanna join?”  
“We're good for now, but thanks for the offer,” Shadow replied quickly. Rouge nodded in agreement.  
“Alright, suit yourselves,” Tails said. Before they left, Sonic put his hand on Shadow’s shoulder, making him stop in his tracks.  
“Thanks for having my back,” He smiled. Shadow smiled back and nodded.  
“Anytime, Faker,”

Rouge and Shadow waved their goodbyes and turned the other direction to go home. She swung her arms around her head, admiring the sky.

“So, why’d you give the emerald to Sonic? I thought you wanted to keep it,” Rouge asked.

Shadow paused in the middle of the path, surprised when she asked him that. He felt guilty about it, but he wasn't sure why exactly. Rouge gave him a sly smirk he knew all too well.

“Well…. when we a robot attacked us, it smashed his drive. I felt bad about it, so I let him have it,”   
“Tch. You're growing soft on him,” She chuckled  
“Pshhhh! No, I’m not!”  
“Yes, you are, and don't ‘pshh’ me,”  
“I’ll ‘pshh’ you all I want until you stop making bold assumptions about me. I’m a very mysterious person,”  
“Could have fooled me. You’re like an open book,”

“Hey!” he pouted, which resulted in a loud laugh from Rouge. It's been a while since Rouge laughed like that, which was a sight to see for Shadow. He’d been friends with Rouge for quite a while now. Whenever anything that made her laugh or smile, it was always a win in his book.

“Whatever. Let’s just head home,” Rouge said, her laughter dying down. There was a moment of silence between them, which was rather unusual for the two but suddenly being broken by Rouge asking one question.

“You sure you don’t like him?”

“Well, yeah, but we’re mostly rivals. Sonic annoys me, and I annoy him. Sometimes we fight, and sometimes we work together. It’s no different from you and Tails really,” he said confidently, which slightly faded as soon as he heard laughter. That was less nice when Rouge would laugh at him. It didn’t happen much, but it still kinda hurt. Rouge seemed to notice this and explained, albeit through teary eyes and stomach pains of laughter.

“I’m sorry! It’s just that I would never look at Tails like you look at Sonic sometimes,” she chuckled.  
“What?” He seriously did not understand what she was talking about. Was there a way he looked at Sonic that not only was he not aware of but also implied he liked him? Liked him like that?  
“It’s nothing. Forget I said anything,” Rouge sighed, seemingly still amused.  
“No, no, let me get this straight,”

She laughed at the notion.

“-You’re implying I like Sonic? The Sonic that despises me to no end? Well, Rouge, you’re wrong! We’re rivals. Rivals! There’s no way I like Sonic like that. I would never think about him in any romantic context. I don’t even think about him until I'm reminded of his existence! It’s not like I lie awake thinking about him, Rouge! And another thing-”

“Alright! Fine! Fine! Quit jabbering,” she said, plugging her ears.

➽──────❥

They soon arrived home, and Shadow went straight to preparing for bed. Usually, he would do his tedious 10 steps before-sleep routine. Today he was so exhausted he just went straight to the fridge to eat whatever leftover takeout they had left. Rouge was on her nightly fly, so it’d be awhile until she returned. Shadow figured the best thing was to sleep. He didn’t bother to take off his makeup. The entire day exhausted him. From fighting Maria and having to defeat another evil robot, and being social with others. He just put on whatever clothes he could find and laid on his bed. 

He fell asleep for a while but woke up suddenly around 1 am. He looked at the clock and groaned. He’s only been asleep for about a few hours, and he was tired but showed no signs of sleeping soon. He walked to the kitchen and served himself a glass of water when he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder.

“What are you doing up so late?”  
“AH SHIT- Rouge! You scared me! I almost had a heart attack!” He said dramatically holding his chest.  
“You didn’t answer my question,” It was nice to know that Rogue cared about Shadow’s wellbeing. She didn’t have to take care of herself that much, being the ultimate life form and all that, but she cared for Shadow’s needs. He felt she was the sister he never had.  
“I just couldn’t sleep. Which is weird since I felt so exhausted when I went to bed,”  
“So exhausted that you didn’t take off your makeup?”  
“Ugh, yeah. Couldn’t be bothered to,” Shadow leaned on the kitchen sink, cup in hand.  
“You look like a mess,”  
“A hot mess?” He said obnoxiously but was mostly joking around about it.  
“So, you just plan on staying up for the rest of the night?”  
“Got nothing better to do,” he shrugged. “What do you usually do? Since the ultimate life form doesn’t sleep,”  
“Well, I just watch tv or go out on walks. Nothing interesting,”  
“I could go for some T.V. and junk food. Plus, we need food anyway, so might as well do some shopping, so sure. Why not?”

Shadow went to his room to grab a jacket, and he figured nobody was going to see him, anyway. Only night owls and half-asleep cashiers. He washed off the smudged makeup and then joined Rouge outside. 

“Huh. I half expected you to get dressed up,”

“Please, Rouge. It takes hours to get beauty ready. Plus, it isn’t like anyone’s gonna see me like this. It’s 3 in the morning,”

➽──────❥

They arrived at the grocery store, list in hand. It was only things they vaguely remembered since they didn’t check the fridge beforehand, so they winged it. Rouge took the cart to get the dairy products they needed while Shadow looked at the junk food aisle. He observed several bags of chips and candy and just started staring at the labels. He didn’t read them anyway, he just picked what looked good. At the corner of his eye, he saw someone familiar just down the aisle. He glanced away, hoping they didn’t recognize them. He was in such a trance that he barely even processed who it was.

‘There is no way in hell someone I know is seeing me like this. I have a reputation to live up to!’ He thought to himself. He should have at least put on some makeup. But then again, how was he supposed to expect someone else to be here?

He grabbed a few chocolate bars, quickly stuffing them into the basket to move to the next aisle, but was too late.

“Shadow? Is that you?” 

_‘Aw fuck, it’s him! Quick! Get out of there!’ the voice in his head panicked. ___

__“Nope,”_ _

__The blue hedgehog chuckled a bit, making Shadow feel a twist in his stomach, which was weird. It was like those times when you go on a rollercoaster. The adrenaline in your stomach when it goes down. That was probably the third time that day. Maybe he was getting sick?_ _

__“What are you doing up so late?” Shadow asked. It wasn’t like he was doing anything. Just barely functioning. He might as well just ask now that they’re talking.  
“I’m up working on a project, so I came to get some junk food to snack on,”  
“Hmm…” was all he could say. He dearly needed sleep. God knows he needed it._ _

__“Jeez, dude. You feeling alright? You look tired,”_ _

___‘Wow, thanks for noticing. Now, are you going to mock me, my fashion sense, and how ridiculous I look or what?’ he thought to himself. ____ _

____“Yeah, I’m-” there was a sudden loud crash from the other aisle. “-fine, I guess...” he continued. They both peaked over to the next aisle and saw one of Maria’s robots, trashing the aisle. Cans and boxes knocked over, and some flour had spilled all over the floor. Whoever was the janitor that night was in for a treat tonight._ _ _ _

____“Jesus, couldn’t she have sent one of her smarter robots to do her grocery shopping?” Shadow said.  
“I don’t think she's shopping…. it seems to be malfunctioning,” Sonic quickly pointed out. The machine was knocking into things without a purpose, so he was probably right.  
“Should we just leave it alone?”  
“Probably. It’s probably the best option we’ve got. Usually, glitched-out bots won’t attack people. At most, it’ll knock things over and make some mess like this one, but it’s mostly harmless unless you attack it-”_ _ _ _

____The robot suddenly turned towards them, and then nearly struck them until something stopped it with a sudden force. Rouge blocked the robot with her body, then held the arm and threw it, pushing the robot and suddenly losing some of its balance. She pushed both of them away, hiding behind the aisle shelves._ _ _ _

____“What's going on here?” She whispered, not wanting to get its attention.  
“We were just talking, and then it attacked us for no reason!” Shadow explained.  
“I thought it was malfunctioning. Those rarely attack people, but it seems like this one is beyond repair,” Sonic added.  
“Then we must crush it into smithereens,” Rogue smiled. Sonic just sighed.  
“Let's just get this over with…” _ _ _ _

____Shadow drew its attention by throwing whatever fruits he could find in the baskets and lured him out of the aisle, having the robot attack him. It cornered him until he pushed him with a kick in the chest, allowing him to escape from the robot.  
Sonic ran into the robot with a grocery cart full of items, knocking them over. Just as soon as it chased him again, Sonic whacked it with a wrench, causing it to fall over on the meat aisle. It quickly recovered, and its arm extended and attempted to grab Shadow and Sonic, but it missed and stuck to the wall. As it tried to pull out, Sonic took its other arm and twisted it enough so it fell out, making some wires stick out. It started shooting lasers at both of them, so they hid and took cover.  
Suddenly, Rouge hit it with a kick, grabbed it like a bowling ball, and threw it into one display, knocking tons of boxes of food on top of the robot. It struggled, trying to escape, but it fell flat as it glitched out and shut down. _ _ _ _

____“Hell Yeah!” Sonic said, high-fiving them both when the store’s manager came around because of the noise._ _ _ _

____“My store!! What have you done to my store?!?”_ _ _ _

____“Uh... We’ll be on our way now!” Sonic said innocently as they all booked it out of the store._ _ _ _

____“You’ll pay for this, you damn rodents!” He said as he shook his fist in the air. “You’ll goddamn pay!!!”_ _ _ _

____ _ _

____➽──────❥_ _ _ _

____ _ _

____“I guess I’ll have to go shopping somewhere else for a while! Although, technically, we’re not allowed to be there in the first place anyway after Tail’s coffee bean incident,”  
“Really? What’s that all about?” Shadow asked, intrigued by what the coffee bean incident could be.  
“You know those coffee bean machines that let you dispense coffee beans into a bag, and then you measure it, so you know how much to pay? Well, I left Tails in charge of the coffee, and he opened all of them, flooding the aisle with coffee beans and getting us kicked out for wasting in-store products! Then he kicked the manager’s ass and was banned because of management harassment!!” Sonic laughed. Shadow tried to stifle his laughter but ended up laughing, anyway. It’d been a while since he laughed so genuinely, and it felt nice to just joke around. His stomach hurt, and his laughter died down, picking up again a little when he didn’t stop._ _ _ _

____“Wow, Didn't know you could laugh like that,” Sonic blurted. Shadow looked at him, confused at what he meant.  
“It's nice. I've only heard your mischievous laugh,”  
“I guess that’s true,”  
“Can’t believe I made Shadow genuinely laugh,” he teased.  
“Don’t flatter yourself. My brain is mush so anything seems hilarious,”  
“Well, that counts for something, doesn’t it?”  
“Well, if you insist,”  
“It is a nice laugh, though,” his tone shifted to something sweet and hushed, something he never really saw in Sonic before.  
“Thanks,”_ _ _ _

____“How did you twist his arm like that, Sonic? I don’t know you could do that,” Rouge asked, breaking the small silence. Oh shit. Shadow had forgotten she was there. A sudden feeling of embarrassment washed over him. He felt like hiding his face but tried to play it cool, which he wasn’t sure if he was succeeding. Why was he embarrassed? These sudden feelings were confusing him a lot._ _ _ _

____“Oh! I’ve been studying Maria’s bots and recognized the model. Their arms were poorly melded together, so I remembered that they can easily break apart with enough force,” he said enthusiastically. Shadow knew he loved talking about science and was always so glad to explain his reasoning to anyone who would listen, defining the weaknesses in a ton of the older models. It wasn’t too intriguing to Shadow, but it was... cute._ _ _ _

____Wait, cute? What about that was cute? He kept confusing himself with his thoughts and felt this sudden feeling of unease. He was sure he was sick._ _ _ _

____“Well, I better get going. Gotta make sure Tails isn’t up and about! See you guys!”_ _ _ _

____ _ _

____➽──────❥_ _ _ _

____ _ _

____They both waved goodbye and headed home. They both figured they could do the rest of the shopping elsewhere and maybe not at 3 in the morning. Rouge turned on the tv and sat on the couch, content with their day and all the destruction they caused. Shadow sat beside her, being quiet. She quickly asked if he was feeling all right, and he brushed it off, saying he was fine. Rouge could tell something was wrong, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. What could put him in such a grim mood that he wouldn’t talk about it? She thought they had a lot of fun with-_ _ _ _

____As if a lightbulb appeared on top of her head and lit up, she realized why he was so gloomy all of a sudden._ _ _ _

____Sonic._ _ _ _

____It wasn’t like she was stupid. Like she said before, she saw how Shadow looked at him sometimes. The conversation they had earlier seemed weird, with this kind of tension that wasn’t usually there in their usual teasing and bickering. Maybe she should talk to him? Or would that be pushing it too far? She wasn’t very good with emotions, but if it made him at least a little less gloomy, she was willing to at least talk to him about it._ _ _ _

____“Today was fun, right? With Sonic?”  
“Huh? Oh, yeah. I guess it was,” He barely took his eyes off the screen to answer her. He wasn’t paying any attention to the show, just lost in his thoughts.  
“Are you ok?”  
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just tired. Maybe I’m getting sick though,”  
“Really?”  
“I don’t know, I’ve been feeling weird. Plus, I keep getting calls from GUN, so I think I have a headache,”  
“You haven’t responded to them at all?”  
“Absolutely fucking not! I’m on break!”_ _ _ _

____ _ _

____He didn’t talk shit about GUN, but he had his moments where he was fed up with their authoritarian attitude. Just this morning, they got a mission only after a week of being on break, like they expected them only one week after working for them for what felt like forever now. He was tired and sick of it, so he might as well talk shit._ _ _ _

____ _ _

____There was no arguing with Shadow. He was too stubborn to quit at anything, especially an argument. The only thing that could rival his stubbornness was Sonic's smarts. There was almost no telling who would win in their bickering. Sometimes, Shadow’s can-do attitude would be too much for Sonic’s hopelessness of a situation. Other times, Sonic’s realistic view was too logical for Shadow’s impulsive decisions. She looked back over to Shadow and saw him just staring at the T.V, seemingly very bored at whatever was playing._ _ _ _

____“You sure you don’t want to sleep?”  
“Rouge, if I could, I would. I need my 10 hours of beauty rest!”  
“If you insist,” She smirked._ _ _ _

____He looked back to the screen and groaned again. “This is boring,”  
“Change the channel then. There should be something good somewhere,”_ _ _ _

____He scrolled through the channels but found nothing entertaining. Only late-night talk shows and shitty sitcoms. Shadow could barely keep his eyes open and dozed off. Rouge let him sleep. Maybe he was sick, or he was running from his problems, but either way, he slept soundly through the early morning._ _ _ _

____Rouge picked up her phone, looking for anything to entertain her while the night passed. Suddenly, a message appeared in her notifications._ _ _ _

____"Who could it be at this hour?"_ _ _ _

____➽──────❥_ _ _ _

____Shadow woke up to the sun shining on his face, disrupting his sleep. He slowly opened his eyes and smelled something in the air. He quickly stood up, fearing the Rouge “accidentally” burned something again, but soon realized it wasn’t the smell of the house burning down. It was sweet. He looked over to the kitchen and saw Rouge sitting on a stool, enjoying a muffin._ _ _ _

____“Good morning, or rather…” she looked at the clock on the wall briefly then turned back to him “...afternoon, I guess,”_ _ _ _

____Afternoon? He overslept this time. He sat down on the stool beside her and opened the bag. Inside there were a ton of baked goods of all sorts. He looked at the logo on the paper bag, and it was Knuckle’s café, which was the best in town. It was only logical to buy from his café._ _ _ _

____“Where on earth did you get the money to buy all this?” _‘She better have not used my money…’ _  
“Gamma works there sometimes, remember? An employee was sick, so Gamma is covering today,”  
“I mean, I would never complain about free food,”  
“Well, 50% off and I said you would come by later and pay,”  
Shadow sighed, knowing he would never get free baked goods without getting the short end of the sick. “Also, we need actual groceries because the fridge is empty,”  
“Seriously? Everything is gone?”  
“Unless we can survive off of butter and a half and half cream, yes,”  
“Fine,” he said, frustrated yet already heading to his room.   
A few minutes later, Shadow finally stepped out of his room and was no longer in his pyjamas.   
“I’ll just do some quick shopping, and I’ll be back in a bit, ok?”  
“I already got a grocery list,” she offered. He took the slip of paper and glimpsed at it before turning to the door to leave.  
“Thank you, that’d be much appreciated,” He sighed in relief “See you later, sweetie!!”___ _ _ _

______ _ _ _ _

______➽──────❥_ _ _ _ _ _

______ _ _ _ _

______He walked into the café and immediately smiled at the fresh atmosphere. He saw Gamma at the counter, talking to someone he didn’t expect to see.  
“Hello, Shadow,” The robot greeted as he noticed his friend enter the store.  
“Hello to you too, Gamma. I’m just here to pay back from earlier,” he smiled.   
“I will confirm the payment with your card,”  
Shadow handed him the credit card and turned towards Sonic as Gamma calculated the amount and paid for it quickly.  
“Hey, Shads! What are you doing here?” the blue hedgehog greeted. “I don’t see you here that often, or at all, actually!”  
“Yeah, I’m just here to pay from something and head grocery shopping with Gamma,”  
“Really? Why don't we talk about it over a coffee?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______Shadow was put off by the sudden invitation. He didn’t expect the kindness Sonic offered when they were rivals. Rivals can be kind to each other, right? They can be friends. So he didn't seem to understand why he was so hesitant and nervous about it._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Sure. Why not?” Shadow said, seemingly confidently. Or at least he hoped.  
“Great! You can sit down on any table you want, I’ll just order something real quick,” And just like that, he rushed off to order something. _ _ _ _ _ _

______Shadow picked a spot he seemed to like. It was a tale with two seats just by the window. Just a simple talk with a friend. Enemy, competitive rival, frenemies... Whatever they were, it was just a friendly hang out, which is why he didn't get why he was so jumpy and nervous. He sat down and stared out the window._ _ _ _ _ _

_______‘Kinda seems like a date,’ _he thought to himself. He felt his stomach twist, his yelling at him for even having such a thought. It was nothing like that. If it was, he'd know and wouldn't have accepted the offer in that kind of context.__ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Sonic sitting down and handing him a coffee mug that had a simple and cute heart design on it interrupted his thoughts. He took a sip and immediately noticed the chocolatey taste. He wasn’t a big fan of coffee. He usually drank some in the morning to wake up, but only with copious amounts of sugar and milk. He preferred sweet things way more._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Do you like it?”  
“Huh?”  
“The drink,”  
“Oh! Yeah, it’s good. I don’t like a strong coffee,”  
“Yeah, I hoped so, since I asked Omega what kind of drink you would like,” Sonic chuckled. He seemed nervous, but Shadow assumed it was best not to ask.  
“So, what brings you to the cafe, Blue?”  
“Oh, I was just fixing some electrical thing that happened. Something happened to the power, and I found the power box destroyed,”  
“How the hell does that happen?”   
“I don’t understand if I’m being honest,” he laughed._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________"So, what are you doing with the Emerald?" Shadow asked as he took a sip of his coffee.  
“Nothing, really. Just seeing the reactions of it. I've been looking into the mech Maria was building, and it looks… weird There’s something that has been bothering me about that day. I think she's planning something. Something big,”  
“What are you saying?” Shadow raised his brow in curiosity._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“What if that wasn’t her actual plan? What if the fight at the base was fake? It felt too easy, somehow. Like she staged it…” Shadow gave him a questionable look. What was he talking about? “I checked her device she was supposed to used to attract the other chaos emeralds. It doesn't exist,”  
“How? Didn’t we see it when we defeated her?”  
“It doesn’t work. It was a bunch of metal wires and a car battery that wasn’t connected to anything,”  
“I don’t think she would just waste supplies on something that base for it to just be a ruse,”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“You have a point there. I guess I’m not used to it being too peaceful around here. There’s always some threat that comes along, so I guess I’m used to being on guard and alert,” he smiled. “Well, actually, It’s about time we’ve had some peace around here! A minor grocery store attack, a failed evil plan, as usual, that's the most evil we’ve had to deal with, and I’m ok with that. She takes months to get a new evil scheme, and I’m glad that we don’t have to save the world from a fucking evil space-time monster in the meantime,”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“An evil time monster? That’s the best you could come up with?”  
“Hey! It’s possible knowing how our lives go,”  
“I wouldn’t be surprised if that happened, to be honest. It’s just as likely as you meeting a double of yourself,”  
“Big claim from the faker,” Sonic smiled smugly_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Shadow laughed and punched him on the shoulder. There was a bit of sincere feeling to the entire ordeal. They talked for a while afterward, like friends would do. They'd make jabs at each other like usual, but there was no bite to it. It was kind of weird, but it was mostly fun to just hang out with Sonic as a friend. Every so often, he would get a small twist in his stomach but still assumed it was him being sick._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“So how’re things at GUN?”  
“I’m on break, plus, I don’t enjoy talking about work,” _'It's not like i can talk about it anyways _  
“Oh, for how long?”  
“Only 3 weeks,” ___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Gamma came by to give them the bill. Shadow put his hand on the tab, but Sonic put his hand on top of Shadow's. Shadow froze suddenly. He felt his stomach twist, and his heart was beating. He did his best to seem like he was just surprised by the sudden action, but wasn't sure if he was succeeding._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________"I'll pay for it, man. I invited ya, so I should pay for it, " Sonic smiled at him. He didn't know what it was about that smile, but it was so genuine and kind that made Shadow's face turn a little red, much to his dismay._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________"Sure. If you insist, " was all Shadow said without stuttering like a fool, quickly pulling his hand from underneath Sonic’s. He stood up to leave as soon as Sonic handed back the tab to the waiter. He wanted to get out of there right now if he was being honest. He felt sick again, almost out of nowhere. He thought he probably had to go home before it got worse._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“I'll be leaving now if you don't mind. It was fun hanging out with you, Sonic,” as he opened the door, Sonic placed his hand on Shadow’s shoulder.  
“Hey, before you leave, wanna keep in touch? Maybe hang out again sometime?” Sonic handed him a slip of paper. It was his phone number, and as he realized this, he looked up at Sonic in confusion.  
“I was just thinking since we don’t talk a lot and often go months without seeing you guys, we could start talking more often. Only if you want to! I don’t wanna pressure you into hanging out because I offered. I just figured that since you’re on a break, we could go somewhere-”  
“-Sure,”  
“Really?” Sonic asked, as if he wasn’t expecting it. Shadow gave a small nod to confirm. “That’s great! You can even invite Rouge to hang out as well if it’s cool with her,”  
“I’ll tell her that,” he thought for a moment, trying to get his thoughts together to say something. “But there’s one thing I don’t get,”  
“Huh?”  
“Why?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Sonic paused for a moment as if it was abundantly clear why he offered to talk and hang out more._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________"Well, we are friends, aren't we?"  
Shadow thought about it for a moment before smiling at him.  
“Yeah. We are friends,”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Sonic was content with that answer and smiled at him, waving a small goodbye and heading out the door as Shadow stood there, smiling and waving._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“Hm… It appears you have fallen for the blue mobian...” a robotic, monotone voice suddenly pondered.  
“GAMMA?!?!” Shadow yelled.  
“Shadow, I advise not to raise your voice,”   
“What did you just say?”  
“Shadow, I advise not to raise your voice,”  
“No, before that,” The hedgehog huffed.  
“I said that it appears you have fallen for the blue mobian,”  
“What the hell!?!”  
“Is this assumption not correct?”  
“Absolutely not correct. We’re rivals,”  
“Rivals that get coffee together?”  
“...Yes,”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Gamma didn't emote expressively, but Shadow could tell Gamma was giving him the same look Rouge would give him sometimes. A sly smirk and a raised brow that implied they knew things he didn’t know about._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Shadow quickly paid for the goods as Gamma took off the shop apron and hung it up on a rack nearby. They both walked out of the shop, with the robot locking the door behind him._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“Let’s just get groceries and head home and not talk about it,”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________➽──────❥_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________"Rouge, sweetie!! I got groceries!! And Gamma!!" Shadow announced as soon as he burst through the doors of the house.  
“Hey, Gamma,” She waved from the kitchen counter.  
“Hello, Rouge. I’ll be recharging for the night,”   
“Alright then. The recharging station is right there. Goodnight,”   
“Affirmative. Goodnight, Rouge. Goodnight, Shadow” The bot said as he shut down at the station and recharged._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“I was texting you all day. What took you so long?” Rouge asked as Shadow restocked the fridge.  
“Groceries, obviously,”   
“Hmm, there’s more to it than that,”   
“Well, I got some cold medicine,”  
“Surely getting medicine wouldn’t take that long,”  
“I also… hung out with Sonic today,”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“Hm…” was all she said, but he couldn’t even imagine the smug look on her face. It made him nervous somehow. It’s almost as she knew something he didn’t. He finished putting everything in the fridge, drank some disgustingly grape flavoured medicine, and lay on the couch with his arm over his eyes._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“My head hurts…”  
“Really?” Rouge looked towards him, slightly concerned. She moved his arm and felt his head “You're burning up…”  
“I just took some medicine. It’s so fucking gross,” Shadow chuckled, but he saw her face. It seemed neutral, but slightly saddened and worried. Shadow knew that she was concerned about him._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Rouge didn’t enjoy seeing people sick. It reminded her of the ark and Ivo. She never forgot him, obviously, but it didn’t exactly bring pleasant memories. Shadow knew he was her closest friend besides Gamma. Although she was very concerned, she hid it, but he knew it bothered her._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“Don’t worry, Rouge. It’s just a cold. I’ll be fine,” he reassured her. There was a moment of silence until she got up and walked towards the kitchen.  
“Change into something comfy while I make us some tea,” was all she said, but Shadow knew she meant _‘I trust you and trust that you are ok, but I won't say it because I’m awkward and weird with emotional moments,’ _____ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________He said nothing about it and just nodded as he headed to his room to change._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________He changed into his pyjamas, and took off his makeup, assuming they wouldn’t go out for the rest of the day, or at least Rouge wouldn’t let him. She often got weirdly protective when he was sick or such, but it wasn’t like he minded much. It was nice knowing someone cares about him. He only needed to look out for himself for a lot of his life, so it was a pleasant change of pace._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________He walked back to the kitchen and sat on a stool nearby the counter and pulled out his phone. He hadn’t texted Sonic yet, so he figured he might as well do something with his time and texted the number Sonic gave him._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________[6:47 pm]: (663) 954-0385  
Hey. It’s Shadow_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________It was all he said, but it suddenly filled his chest with feelings of instant regret and unease. He felt like hiding his face out of pure embarrassment. He didn’t know what to do. Why did he feel like this? He was thinking of deleting it until he felt a buzz in his hand._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________[6:49 pm]: (672) 571-5405  
Hey, shads! How ya’ doing?  
I’m just workin’ on my new bot._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________Somehow, the message made him smile. It seemed like something Sonic would say.  
Rouge set a mug in front of him with a kettle beside him. She walked to the fridge, squinted at it, and closed it before making a judgment._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________“I’m gonna go get us a pizza. I don’t feel like cooking,”  
“Sure, " He shrugged “Better than burning the house down, and hey, it’s cheaper too,”  
“You burn ONE casserole, and suddenly I'm an arsonist who’s trying to gain house insurance,” She huffed as she walked out the door.  
“Bring me some garlic bread as well! Okbyeloveyouuuuu!” he yelled rapidly as she closed the door. He looked back at his phone and started typing out his response._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________[6:51 pm] : (663) 954-0385  
I’m ok  
I have a headache, so that’s something_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________[ 6:51 pm] : (672) 571-5405  
Sorry about that dude  
I hope hanging out didn’t make it worse :(_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________[6:52 pm]: (663) 954-0385  
I’m sure it was bound to happen_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________[6:52 pm]: (672) 571-5405  
Do you always talk like that?_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________[6:53 pm]: (663) 954-0385  
What do you mean?_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________[6:53 pm]: (672) 571-5405  
Idk like serious and fancy?  
sounds real dramatic  
Well I guess I shouldn’t’ve expected something tame from you lol_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________[6:54 pm]: (663) 954-0385  
Well, you want me to talk like a surfer dude then?_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________[6:54 pm] (672) 571-5405  
First you call me faker and now you try to copy me and my mannerisms?  
For shame faker  
For shame_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________[6:54 pm]: (663) 954-0385  
Haha, hilarious_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________[6:54 pm]: (672) 571-5405  
So what ya’ doing?_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________[6:55 pm]: (663) 954-0385  
Nothing much  
Just drinking some tea and waiting for Rouge to get dinner _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________[6:55 pm]: (672) 571-5405  
Wait   
She isn’t cooking, right?_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________[6:56 pm]: (663) 954-0385  
God no  
She’d probably burn the house down  
She went to get some pizza_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________[6:56 pm]: (672) 571-5405  
Well that sure is a relief_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________[6:56 pm] : (663) 954-0385  
Sure is  
What kind of machine are you making right now?_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________[6:57 pm]: (672) 571-5405  
Just making some adjustments to the emerald detection scanner  
I can probably make it have a wider scanning range with the chaos emerald that we got from Maria  
Thanks for that btw_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________(663): (663) 954-0385  
It’s really no problem_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________[6:57 pm] (672) 571-5405  
Always surprises me when you’re modest and kind_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________[6:57 pm]: (663) 954-0385  
Don't get used to it_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________[6:58 pm] : (672) 571-5405  
I’m sure I won’t_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________(672) 571-5405 set (663) 954-0385’s name to Modest Prick!_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________[6:58 pm]: Modest Prick  
Fuck you_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________Modest Prick set (672) 571-5405’s name to Smartass Bitch!_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________[6:58 pm]: Smartass Bitch  
Nice one_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________[6:59 pm]: Modest Prick  
I hate you_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________[6:59 pm]:  
Modest Prick set Smartass Bitch’s name to Incompetent Fool!  
Incompetent Fool set Modest Prick’s name to Melodramatic Asshat!  
Melodramatic Asshat set Incompetent Fool’s name to Inadequate Moron!  
Inadequate Moron set Melodramatic Asshat’s name to Pretentious Idiot!_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________[7:02 pm]: Inadequate Moron  
Lmao_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________[7:03 pm]: Pretentious Idiot  
Enjoying yourself?_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________[7:02 pm] : Inadequate Moron  
Oh absolutely _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________Inadequate Moron set Pretentious Idiot’s name to Faker!  
Faker set Inadequate Moron’s name to Faker Faker!  
Faker Faker set Faker’s name to Fakest Faker!_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________[7:04 pm]: Faker Faker  
Now the word “Faker” looks weird_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________[7:04 pm]: Fakest Faker  
You only have yourself to blame for that_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________Faker Faker set Fakest Faker’s name to Drama Queen!_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________[7:04 pm]: Faker Faker  
There  
Now it’s normal_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________[7:05 pm]: Drama Queen  
Better than nothing_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________Drama Queen set Faker Faker’s name to Wiseass Bitch!_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________[7:05 pm]: Wiseass Bitch  
Nice  
I gotta go now!  
We’re having a movie night with Knuckles!_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________[7:05 pm]: Drama Queen  
Well I hope you have fun then_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________[7:06 pm]: Wiseass Bitch  
We can probably have a movie night some time if you’d like!_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________[7:05 pm]: Drama Queen  
That sounds fun honestly  
Maybe we could someday_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________[7:06 pm]: Wiseass Bitch  
Hell yeah!   
Ttyl!_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________He settled his phone on the counter and went to the couch to turn on the tv. He flipped through the channels, not finding anything interesting._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_____________‘I wonder what movies Sonic likes….’ _He pondered. He supposed they never got personal before. There was no need. They were never close friends. Just friendly enemies.__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________Or were they?_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________They were friends. It wouldn’t hurt to get to know him and know what he likes, right? Shadow didn’t know how to explain it, not even in his thoughts, but he felt like getting to know Sonic.  
He wasn’t close to many people. Sure, he knew them and respected them to a degree, but he’d only been close to Rouge. Sonic felt different, though. A different need to be close to him. Rouge and he had a sibling sort of bond. He wanted to be close to Sonic. He couldn’t explain it.   
The rest like Tails, Amy, and Knuckles were friends of his for sure, he’d known them for quite a while now but these sudden feelings of trying to be close to someone was different and new. Confusing, yet he knew it had to be something. It had to be something, but he wasn’t sure what that something was.   
“Hey, I got your gross garlic bread,” Rouge barged in, startling Shadow and interrupting his thoughts, making him jump up in surprise. She gave him a confused look as he just awkwardly smiled at her and grabbed the bag from on top of the pizza box. It had a bunch of sauces that neither of them liked to use, two soda cans, and a box of garlic bread.  
She grabbed two paper plates and served herself some of her side of the pizza. Shadow grabbed some himself and continued his train of thought. Sonic mentioned Tails had also gone to get pizza. The pizza place was the nearest one, so he started wondering if Rouge bumped into him._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________“Hey, did you bump into Tails while getting pizza?” He asked.  
“Huh? Oh yeah. What makes you ask?”  
“Sonic texted me something about it,” he said as he stuffed his mouth with pizza, being hungrier than he expected.  
“Since when do you text Sonic?” She chuckled.  
“Since none of your business. Anyways, did you talk to Tails at all or not?”  
“Yeah, but not about anything in particular. Wanna watch a crime show while we eat this pizza?”  
“Hell yeah,”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________➽──────❥_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________\- Earlier -_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________She walked into the pizza place and walked up to the counter.  
“Hey. Can I get a medium pizza pepperoni and a box of garlic bread?”  
The cashier merely averted their eyes from her and only seemed semi-terrified, nodding, and confirming her order._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________She waited to the side, leaning on the wall with her arms crossed. She heard the front door chime and realized who just walked in. It seemed he realized as well since he put on his usual bastardly smile as he and Knuckles walked into the shop._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________“Rouge. I have to say, never expected you to rob a pizza place,” The yellow fox mocked.  
“I’m just here for a pizza, which I’ll be paying full price for,”   
“Huh. I guess life always has surprises,” he chuckled. She just huffed and stared out the window of the shop until Knuckles stood beside her and asked her a question._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________“Hey, Rouge? Has Shadow been acting weird lately?”  
“Nothing out of the ordinary, I think. Why do you ask?”  
“I think you know why” Knuckles sighed “Sonic’s been more… easily distracted these days.”  
“He even gave Shadow his number,”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________She vaguely remembered Shadow texting on his phone before she left, kind of expecting it to be Gamma or something. Sonic was the last person she expected, despite his obvious crush on the mechanic.  
The smirks, the rare friendly glances, the conversation they had while they walked home from the grocery store, and them hanging out and texting only furthered her previous suspicions. There was no way Shadow didn’t have a crush on Sonic._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________But pushing that on them wouldn’t work, and she knew this very well._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________“It’s best if we didn’t interfere. They should figure it out themselves,”  
“Ugh!! But then they’ll just dance around each other until we do!” Tails groaned.  
“He’s got a point there, Rouge!” The echidna smiled. “Plus, we have a plan we think may work,”   
She thought about it for a moment. She wanted him to be happy, but she didn’t want to be involved. Maybe she could give them a small push in the right direction. Shadow deserved happiness in his life.  
“You’ve piqued my interest,” _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________➽──────❥_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________The crime show wasn’t that interesting, which is why Shadow pulled out his phone in the middle of the show, or that’s what Roge thought his excuse was. He soon fell asleep. She gave him a blanket, and he quickly dozed off into a relaxing slumber.  
As tempting as it was to tease him, she said nothing about it. If he wanted to open up about his crush, he would. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________Shadow seemed in denial about it. Like he didn’t realize or didn’t want to realize his feelings. Saying that they're just friendly enemies while his expressions towards him differed from that. She could ask him why herself, but something told her she wouldn’t get direct answers or any answers at all.  
She looked at the clock on the wall and realized it was getting late. It would be best if she carried Shadow off to bed so he wouldn’t be complaining about his back later on. She was getting rather bored with the show anyway, and it was best if she took one of her usual walks around town._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________Nothing much differed from her usual walks. Just the cold early morning air and the quietness of the town at these hours. The sky turned orange and pink, the sun barely rising above the horizon, just peeking out the ground.  
She was about to head back inside until she heard something that sounded like something or someone was thrashing around. It was most likely raccoons, but it never hurt to make sure.   
She peeked her head around the corner of the house to see nothing. The trashcan seemed fine and didn’t seem to be knocked over or anything. She thought nothing of it until the rustling started again, like something was struggling to get out. She looked at a bush and saw it move. She went closer, trying to figure out what was making the noise.  
Just as she peeked over the bush to see it, it tried running away. She immediately attacked it with one swift motion and pulled it out, slamming it to the ground. It moved more, and she slammed it against the wall of the house, making quite the sound. It finally stopped moving, and she kneed to the ground to observe it.  
It was a mech. It seemed to be one of Maria’s, judging by the blue logo on the back, but it was much weaker than the ones they usually fought. It was much smaller, only being able to just look through the window. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________It was a spy mech. Maria was spying on them._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________She didn’t know what else to do. Should she bring it back into the house? What if it attacks everyone in the house? She tried to think thoroughly about what to do. The only person with this knowledge on Maria’s robots was Sonic. It seemed like her only actual option at this point.  
She could wake Shadow up, or she could just head straight to Sonic’s house. Shadow could know something about why she’s spying on them, or he could be in the dark about this too. Just as she was about the head inside, Gamma opened the door.  
"Hello, Rouge. I have fully charged up and- " the robot stopped in his tracks and stared at the bot.  
“Rouge? What the hell is going on out here?” Shadow yawned. He then looked at the bot on the ground and then back at Rouge. “What the fuck-”  
“Let's go,”  
“Where?”  
“To Sonic's. He's the only mechanic we know that won't throw us out of their shop,”  
"Fine, just let me get ready,”  
"Really? Just to go to Sonic's?"  
“I'm literally in my pajamas, Rouge,” he gestured. “You woke me up at 6 am...”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________➽──────❥_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________After a quick change of clothes, they soon arrived and knocked on the door. It was only 7 am, and the sun just come out. There were sounds of items crashing and a bit of yelling, resulting in some questionable looks at each other. The door finally opened, revealing an exhausted Sonic._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________“Greetings, blue hedgehog mobian. We require access to your home facility,” Gamma spoke._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________Sonic just stared at him blankly, not processing what Gamma had said. He yawned and then turned towards Shadow and Rouge. “What the hell, guys? I try to get some sleep tonight, and- what the hell are you holding in your hands?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________Rouge goes through the door, holding the broken robot, barely being held together.  
“Mind if we come in?” Shadow asked, already knowing the answer but asking anyway, just to be polite.  
“Sure,” Sonic yawned tiredly, rubbing his eyes. He walked ahead of them to unlock the metal door leading to his workspace in the garage._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________It was… rather interesting. Unorganized and messy, with random tools, pills of what seemed to be motor oil, and metal scraps that were just lying on the floor. Shadow watched his step, not wanting to step on anything. Rouge just placed the bot on an empty table nearby while Sonic observed it, zipping around a bit to take notes from a notebook that came out of nowhere._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________“So, what’s the problem with this one?” he asked  
“It’s another one from Maria,” Shadow replied  
“It was spying on us,” Rouge continued, as Sonic and Shadow stared in shock. Rouge didn't tell him that. He just thought of another malfunctioning bot that attacked her while she was on one of her walks.  
“Uh… You didn’t tell me that was what happened,”  
“Though it was easy to tell,” was all she said. Shadow sighed in annoyance, but mostly let it go._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________“Well, why the hell is she spying on us?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________“The chaos emerald…” Sonic quietly mumbled to himself but was loud enough to hear with how close Shadow was. He just realized how close he was to Sonic, almost touching shoulders, which made him nervous, so he slightly shifted away and looked at Sonic confused.  
“Uh, but you have chaos emerald, idiot,”  
“Yeah, I... I know,” He stuttered, looking at him in embarrassment. That only confused him further. He quickly cleared this throat and looked towards the bot. “But Maria saw you take the emerald. She thought you had it, not me. She must be looking for them. Again,” he said more confidently._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________“Why would she try to find another chaos emerald? You said before that the machine doesn’t work with the chaos emerald,” Shadow pointed out.  
“Well, she's probably planning on taking matters into her own hands instead of relying on a fancy device. You know her. Never willing to quit,” Sonic explained.  
“What about the spy? What did it find?” Shadow questioned.  
“We should look into that, yeah,” Sonic flipped the bot, making it face down. “This is a model S-1568, built for more stealthy approaches. Not the best but fairly good at its job for that kind of mission,” he rambled.  
It was endearing. It was kind of boring to Shadow, and he didn't understand a lot of it, but something about seeing him in his element was cute somehow. He suddenly felt fuzzy with the thoughts going on in his head, but shook it off and continued to pay attention._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________"These models should have a memory chip right about... here!" he exclaimed as he pushed the slot to have it pop out. He dashed to his computer and inserted it in, looking at the screen keenly._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________“That's weird...” He muttered. Shadow walked towards the computer as if he knew what the footage was supposed to look like.  
"What's wrong?" Shadow asked.  
“There's no footage,”  
“Well, that's a good thing, isn't it?”  
"Well, not really. What probably happened is that once Rouge caught the bot, it started a response that would delete all traces of the footage. Probably being sent to Maria before being deleted, "_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________“So she knows that we don't have the emerald,” Rouge presumed.  
“Probably, yeah,”  
“and the only other person who would have would be you, so it's only logical that she would assume you have it, which is correct,”  
“Uh, probably?”  
"And how do we know that thing isn't tracking us,"  
"It's unlikely it would still work, even if it had a tracking device. It's shut down and doesn't work-" he speculated but was interrupted by the sounds of something crashing to the floors of the house, and yelling from a yellow fox. Said yellow fox burst into the room and closed the door behind him._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________"There is a ROBOT in our kitchen!!!" he exclaimed_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________"I stand corrected. We may have been tracked, " Sonic calmly said. Rouge huffed in annoyance as Gamma walked towards the bot, threw it on the ground, and began crushing it to smaller pieces. Shadow winced at the sounds of metal crashing against the floor as they both looked in disbelief._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Sonic exclaimed.  
“Destroying the evidence and tracking device, ” the bot said blankly as ever.  
"Well, it's too late for that, isn't it?!" he yelled in frustration, then breathing for a moment to calm himself. "Alright. Let's just get this out of our house, and we'll figure out what to do later, " he huffed._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________"Can anyone explain what the hell is going on?! Why are they here?!" Tails exclaimed.  
"Hey, everyone! How are you all doing?" Knuckles burst through the backdoor of the lab, surprising everyone with his unexpected visit.  
"Knuckles!?!" Everyone exclaimed  
"...Is this a bad time?"  
"Why are you here right now!?" Tails exclaimed.  
“I made too many muffins,” he said timidly, holding up the muffin tray in question.  
"Can't you hear the destruction of our house?"  
"I thought it was just a loud project Sonic was working on,”  
“Well, there's a robot destroying the kitchen right now-” A huge knock on the garage door was heard, making a huge dent in the metal door leading to the rest of the house. “God damn it!” the fox said as he ran out of the room, body slamming the robot into the kitchen.  
"Tails! Wait!" Knuckles yelled, following right behind  
“Threat may harm friends. Must destroy,” Gamma said as he broke through the door frame _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________"Can't we ever do anything? Like, anything at all without having our house getting destroyed or something?" Sonic sighed, rolling up his sleeves as he ran to catch up to the three fools into the kitchen, having Shadow and Rouge follow soon after.  
Tails attacked the robot, attempting to prevent major damage to the house. Knuckles couldn't do much besides prevent less damage to the house by saving falling objects from crashing and shattering on the floor. Gamma stood by the hallway, preparing a charged blast that could probably destroy the bot and half of the house altogether._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________“Gamma! Fight the robot OUTSIDE THE HOUSE,” Shadow yelled in frustration.  
"Why the hell are you guys in our house? Do you know anything about this!?" Tails accused.  
“Save the questions for after the fight, Tails,”  
“Just get it out of the house for chaos’ sake!”   
“Affirmative,” Gamma said, charging at the bot, knocking it out of the house, and making a separate hole in the wall next to the bot’s previous entrance.  
“GAMMA!!!”  
“Threat is now out of the house,”  
“I DIDN’T MEAN MAKE ANOTHER HOLE IN THE WALL!!”  
The robot soon recovered from the blow and reached out its arms, grabbing Sonic and pulling him towards it.  
“Sonic!” They all yelled in surprise.  
“Just use the door, asshole!” Sonic yelled as it slammed him to the ground. Shadow ran through the hole in the wall, and spin dashed into its face, knocking it off Sonic. Shadow reached out his hand to offer help.   
“You alright?”  
“Yeah. Just hit my head...” Sonic smiled, but seemingly in pain. Shadow smiled back, but then felt the eggbot looming over them. Gamma pushed them to the side, blocking the other bot from hitting them. Gamma smashed it to the ground, just about avoiding them.   
Tails flew up and latched on to it, distracting it from behind and ripping one arm off. He was flung off by the bot, crashing into the wall. It tried to grab its other arm, only to be snatched by Rouge, who slammed the bot to the ground._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________They all surrounded it as it tried to move around. Knuckles walked up to it and took a big swing to hit it.  
“Pucker up, big boy!” he exclaimed as he swung as hard as he could and launched it into the air, never to be seen again.   
“Well, now that’s dealt with, we can figure out what the hell to do,” Sonic sighed in relief, hanging onto Shadow's shoulders.  
“So, is anyone gonna explain what’s going on?” Tails asked  
“Maria is planning to take over the world AGAIN by looking for the chaos emeralds herself. She spied on us and is looking for the emerald that you guys have. She now knows that you have the emerald, and, if we wanna stop her, we have to work as a team and find all of them before she does, ” Rouge explained.   
“Oh, wow. Not even a break, I guess. Maria must be desperate this time...” Knuckles said.   
“Yeah, and who knows what she’ll even do with them. She always has a trick of her sleeve, ” Tails added.   
“Well, I guess we got an adventure planned on our hands,” Sonic smiled. Shadow realized something right at that moment as his stomach twisted once again. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________He'd probably have to deal with being sick the entire trip._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT: I noticed several mistakes in my original posting of the work so I have now fix that issue. I was mostly editing the first chapter since I'm publishing chapter 2 soon and have an actual plan and layout this time. I had a loose plan before but now that plan is much more solid and much more ready. Hopefully it wont take me many many months to publish this whole fic since I have AT LEAST 3 other fics planned and I don't want to delay this fic to work on those but I also don't want this one to be rushed and half baked. I'm also trying to take care of my own mental health so I'm very sorry for any type of delay!!
> 
> \----
> 
> Thanks for reading!
> 
> This chapter was started in February 2020 but it went through a lot of changes throughout and was originally planned to be released around March but it’s August now. I’m very bad at managing time so I’m going to try my best to work on chapter 2 frequently and I apologize in advance for the delay in any other future chapter. Feel free to send me asks to bother me about it or just ask any general questions like the inspiration for scenes and such. Criticism is much appreciated and sharing is as well! If this inspires you for any works and such please feel free to at (@) / message me on tumblr or twitter (@knifecuties).
> 
> Please check out @darkswap on tumblr for their amazing au because clearly I like it a lot. @fizzdiz is a great artist and creator of the au and gave me permission to make a fic on it! Thanks, Dizz, and I’m sorry it’s been like 6-7 months since I’ve mentioned this work.
> 
> Thanks for reading and I hope you stick around for chapter 2!


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